


Dads of K Company

by ama



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Parenthood, Single Parents, Teaching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-06-05 20:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6722362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ama/pseuds/ama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of oneshots in which Andy, or Eddie, or both, are single parents. (many prompts will be from <a href="http://riphaerry.tumblr.com/post/118288098594/how-about-them-single-parentaus">this post</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2am Declarations of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: you’ve been sleeping at mine because your house is being renovated and we aren’t even dating, yet every time you wake up to the baby crying and sigh, “i’ll go” i feel like we might as well be married

“Thanks again for letting me stay,” Eddie said as he jiggled a stuffed monkey in front of Anna’s face. She laughed hysterically. “It’s so much more fun here than my place.”

“No problem,” Andy said with a smile. “Sorry we don’t have much space, but you can stay as long as you can stand it.”

“It’s especially considerate,” Eddie considered in a serious tone, “given that the whole ‘renovations’ thing is just a cover so that I can have an excuse to come here and do recon for when I steal your baby.”

Andy chuckled and leaned against the kitchen counter. The last of the dishes were drying on the rack, everyone in the apartment had been satisfactorily fed, the sun hadn’t quite set yet, and he was already feeling dead on his feet. He watched as Anna grabbed for the monkey, and last minute changed course and grabbed Eddie’s face instead, splattering mashed squash all over his cheeks. Andy ran a washcloth under water and walked over.

“Are you going to take her like this, really? Stains and all? Don’t want to wait until she can stay neat and presentable for five minutes?”

“Oh don’t worry, under my watch she’ll be plenty presentable. You can find us on microfashion blogs starting next week.”

“Sounds good.” Andy wiped the remnants of Anna’s meal off her face, hands, and high chair, and picked her up. She nestled happily against his shoulder; it was just about time for bed, and the antics of the man with the curly hair and goofy faces had tuckered her out quite neatly. “I’m going to put her down, and then I’ll be right out. If you want to put on the game or something…”

“What game?”

“I’m assuming there’s _a_ game _somewhere_ ,” Andy said, waving his hand as he turned towards the nursery. He heard Eddie laugh behind him.

“You’ve changed, Ack-Ack.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said under his breath. He put Anna down on the changing table and paused. She grinned up at him toothlessly and kicked her legs, and he caught both in his hands and kissed the balls of her feet. His daughter had the cutest feet in the world. He didn’t know if this was quantifiable in some way, but it was true nonetheless. “We’ve got to start watching ESPN soon,” he told her. “I’ve let myself fall behind, but you’ll be laughed out of every preschool in Massachusetts if you don’t know the Red Sox lineup. And we don’t want anybody to fake-geek-girl you over that Gronkowski onesie.”

Anna bubbled at him. Andy smiled, and got her into the crib with only a little bit of fussing. He returned to the living room, where Eddie was flicking through channels. As Andy flopped on the couch, Eddie settled on _The Princess Bride_.

“This is a good movie to put on with kids in the room,” he declared. “There’s nothing dirty for them to pick up on, really, but it’s not as inane as kid’s stuff nowadays.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Eddie looked over sympathetically.

“You look wiped, Ack-Ack.”

“I’m fine,” he mumbled, dragging a hand over his face. “No, really--Anna’s actually been so much better with nights lately. Never wakes up more than twice, and a few times she’s only woken once. It’s just that I’ve been busy trying to look for a place for us… figure out if we can afford to be looking for a place… this was only supposed to be temporary,” he said, looking around the apartment.

Eddie was diplomatically silent. The apartment _was_ small. It had a kitchen that opened into a microscopic living room, a bathroom, and two bedrooms; the larger was the nursery, the smaller was Andy’s bedroom, just big enough to fit his queen-sized bed and a dresser and not much else. But… well, having a baby wasn’t cheap, even if you sprung for the natural way and not surrogacy--which, of course, hadn’t been an option. Add in the cost of divorce lawyers, once Andy’s husband had decided mid-pregnancy that, actually, no, he _didn’t_ want the settled-down life, and then trying to find that deadly balance between “how long can I afford to take parental leave?” and “goodness, childcare is _how_ expensive?”, and things got complicated very quickly.

He knew that he hadn’t exactly been the most fun person to be around the last few months. Constantly tired and busy, everything in his life suddenly revolving around this baby who, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, didn’t have much of a personality yet. Eddie had never complained, though. He volunteered to babysit, lugged around the diaper bag when asked, and kept inviting Andy to things no matter how many times he was turned down.

And for all that, Andy was almost more grateful that, while his apartment was being renovated, Eddie had turned to _him_. Sure, he framed it as asking for a favor--but Andy wouldn't have any idea what to do with himself if he wasn't the friend that other people turned to when they needed help.  He’d been a dad for a lot longer than six months, in that respect. And if Eddie was offering to help with the chores around the house and babysit when needed… well, it was a mutually beneficial stay.

“She’s still tiny,” Eddie offered. “Hell, I’ll bet anything bigger than a womb still feels gigantic to her. You’ve got time.”

“Thanks,” Andy smiled. “Oh, by the way, you can take my bedroom whenever you want.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not kicking you out of your bed.”

“Well you’re not staying on the couch.”

“Sure I am.  Do you really think I’m going to let the man with the old back injury sleep on a lumpy couch all night?”

“Don’t insult my couch,” Andy said with a yawn. “All right, fine. We’ll split the bed. Wouldn’t be the first time--and it’s sure as shit bigger than those old camp beds. But fair warning, the baby monitor’s going to be on all night.”

Eddie grinned.

“Camping out with Andrew Haldane, waiting for middle of the night screams and mortar alarms. Just like the good old days, huh?”

-

Andy fell into a dead sleep as soon as he hit the pillow, although all night he was comfortably aware of the fact that he felt warmer than usual. It was soothing, and it took him a minute of grogginess to wake when he heard a harsh wail coming in scratchy through the baby monitor. He woke with a grunt and reached out, waving a hand in the direction of the noise. The body beside him stirred, too, and sat up.

 _Eddie_ , he remembered.

“I’ll get it,” Eddie mumbled automatically, and there was a sudden rush of cold air as he stood and lifted the blanket away. “Still givin’ her a bottle at night?” he asked around a yawn.

“Yeah,” Andy said, yawning himself, and then he curled his arm around his pillow tighter and promptly fell back asleep.

Ten minutes later he woke again with a start. The baby monitor was off and the room was quiet. He lay in bed for a moment in a state of abject confusion--had Anna been crying? And had Eddie woken up to give her a bottle? He sat up and tentatively brushed a hand over the covers, stretching over to the other side of the bed. It was empty.

There was a distinct difference, Andy thought, between playing with someone else’s giggling baby--and waking up at two in the morning to console and feed someone else’s _screaming_ baby. The first, he could understand. The second, he could hardly fathom. Still, he got out of bed and walked over to the nursery, quietly in his bare feet. The door was ajar, and Eddie was there.

He was sitting in the rocking chair that Andy’s dad had bought in a fit of excitement a year ago, before he had even begun to set up a nursery. Anna was nestled in his arms, wearing her striped blue onesie and wrapped carefully in a fluffy white blanket. Her eyes were closed but a red flush still touched her cheeks; the tips of Andy’s fingers tingled, because in the last few months he had become intimately familiar with the way her skin became hot when she cried, the incredible delicate softness of her skin and the barest touch of fuzzy hair. That was something that had caught him off guard about fatherhood, the physical intimacy.

Eddie was cradling Anna with the ease of an expert. He leaned back against the chair and subtly lifted his forearm to support her head without even noticing. One foot rested on the floor and the other was on the ottoman, gently pushing the two of them back and forth. There was an empty bottle and a crumpled towel on the table beside them, and Eddie was singing.

He was tired--eyes still closed, voice barely above a mumble--but still he was singing and holding Anna curled close to his body. His hair was puffing up in a million different ways.

“ _Daddy’s gonna buy you a cart and bull… And if that cart and bull turn over, Daddy’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover_ …”

A yawn overtook his words, and it surprised him so much that he blinked his eyes open and looked down at Anna, who was fast asleep.

“Oh,” he mumbled. “You good, babygirl?”

The room was so quiet they could hear her breathing. Eddie stood and carefully lifted her up higher, resting her head against his shoulder. They were still for a long moment and Andy wondered if he should say something, make his presence known--but his heart was hammering against his ribs painfully, and he could barely breath. He bit the inside of his cheek and swayed back, further into the shadow of the doorframe.

Eddie let out a deep sigh and walked over to the crib. He lowered Anna in and stood there for a moment, leaning against the crib, one long arm dangling inside.

“Sleep good, all right, babygirl?” he said in a low voice. “Give your daddy an easy night. Lord knows he deserves it... G'night.”

He turned around and took a step towards the door. His gaze met Andy’s and he froze.

“Hey,” Andy whispered.

“Hey.” Eddie frowned and stepped closer. His eyes still looked sleepy, and he brushed a hand over them. “You crying?”

“Yeah.” Andy’s voice was hoarse. He swallowed and took a deep breath, but he didn’t try to wipe away the tears beading his eyes. It was too late for them to seem important. “Sorry.”

“Whatsa matter?” Eddie asked, voice thick with concern.

“Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing. I, uh… I was just thinking about the past year. You know, with the divorce and the surrogate and everything… it’s been hard.” He hadn’t admitted this, to anyone. Not his parents, not his sister, not even Eddie, until now. “Sometimes harder than I expected. But it’s been worth it, and you’ve made it easier, and… I love you.”

Eddie blinked, slow in the darkness.

“Love you, too,” he said. Too casual. Andy’s heart sank.

“No,” he said. “I mean--”

Eddie took another step forward and touched a hand to Andy’s cheek. His thumb brushed a small arc over Andy’s skin, nudging against the corner of his mouth. He leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to his other cheek.

“I know what you mean.”

He put his arms loosely around Andy’s neck and hugged him. It was a heavy hug, and Eddie exhaled and slumped against Andy’s entire body. Andy almost wanted to laugh; he was pretty sure Eddie was about to fall asleep right here. He rested his hands on Eddie’s waist and they stood like that for a minute, swaying gently.

“Let’s go to bed,” Eddie mumbled into the cotton of Andy’s t-shirt. “Talk in the morning?”

“Okay.”

Andy squeezed him closer for another minute, and kissed Eddie’s shoulder. Then they stood up straight and walked back to the bedroom. The apartment was quiet for the rest of the night.


	2. Mother's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this didn't come from any prompt, but I thought it would be cute to get something up for Mother's Day. I only started it yesterday and I wanted to get it posted, so please be kind about any errors, as I'm sure there are a few...

“Mr. Haldane, it’s good to see you again,” Eddie said, shaking the other man’s hand. “Sorry for the last minute notice--”

“It’s fine,” Haldane said with an easy smile. “I understand, things come up. What’s this about?”

They both looked down at Sarah, who was staring up at them, blue eyes wide and pigtails askew. She had sprinted out into the hall, like she did every day, when the office had called her down to meet her father, and although Eddie reminded her not to run he was sure that she crashed into father at top speed. She was that kind of kid--always bouncing with energy, although she did sometimes surprise him with that serious stare.

“Sarah, your dad and I are going to have a conference--do you want to go take a turn in the couch corner?” he suggested. She lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug.

“Kay.” She took off her backpack and held it up expectantly, and Haldane snorted as he accepted it.

“Don’t make a mess,” he reminded her. “I’m sure Mr. Jones is all tuckered out looking after you all day, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave his room looking like yours at home.”

“I  _ won’t _ !”

She danced off to the couch corner, which contained the math teacher’s old overstuffed couch and a pile of and picture books. Eddie sat back down at his desk and indicated the only grown-up chair in the room, which Haldane took. Eddie’s heart was pounding. No matter how many times he had to talk to a parent about a child’s behavior, it always made him nervous. Most of the time he was prepared to either have them criticize his actions, or have them be completely unsure what to do and ask him for incredibly specific advice--he wasn’t sure which he dreaded more.

Although he had high hopes for this particular conversation, because Andrew Haldane was a Good Parent. He always dropped off and picked up his daughter, or arranged for someone to do so, at the appropriate time. He practiced reading with her, and occasionally cheated by helping her on projects--but only a reasonable amount, so that she could still learn. He sent in box tops, signed forms when they were due, and had a very pleasant attitude at the regular, scheduled parent-teacher conferences. For her birthday he had dropped off thirty homemade gluten- and nut-free cupcakes for the entire class, and for Christmas he had somehow weaseled Eddie’s address out of the secretary and sent him a  _ very _ nice bottle of wine with a note that said  _ Felt uncomfortable sending this to an elementary school, but I thought you probably deserved it--Cheers! A.A.H. _ Eddie had split it with the other first grade teacher, who had agreed that yes, this propelled Haldane to Great Parent status.

Sure, he occasionally sent Sarah to school without realizing that she had forgotten her entire backpack, and on more than one occasion he had shown up at lunchtime, sheepish, with the lunchbox he had accidentally switched for his own, but still.

He tried. And Eddie liked him, and Sarah Haldane was undeniably adorable and her father was adorable  _ with _ her, so it would be depressing to realize that such a put-together man was actually as much of an insecure mess as the rest of them--or an asshole. He was too attractive to be an asshole.

“Like I said on the phone,” Eddie began, flipping a pen through his fingers without thinking about it, “it’s not a very big problem.”

“Yes,” Haldane nodded. He didn’t look nervous, but his arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were fixed steadily on Eddie’s.

“It’s just the kind of thing I think a parent should be aware of, in case it comes up later.” He cleared his throat. “One of our projects today was making Mother’s Day cards.” Eddie paused for a moment, one eyebrow lifting just slightly--this doesn’t surprise you, does it? Haldane frowned but some of the tension left his body. He uncrossed his arms and let his hands rest on his knees.

“Ah.”

“And I talked to the kids beforehand,” Eddie said quickly, “about families having all sorts of people in them, and I made it clear that they could make cards for aunts, grandmothers, family friends, or get a head start on Father’s Day if they wanted. Two other students, I believe, right away started making cards for grandmothers or fathers, but Sarah got… upset.”

“Upset how?” Haldane asked. His forehead creased and his eyes flickered back to where Sarah was sitting on the couch, three different picture books spread across her lap.

“Well, at first she didn’t take her art supplies out--she just sat at her desk looking around the room. Then I think some of the other students asked why she wasn’t working, and she put her head down. They asked her again, and she was a bit snippy with them, so I went over to check, and when I asked if everything was alright, she began crying.” He paused. “She really was very upset; I had one of the kindergarten teachers come over and watch the class so I could take her out in the hall for a few minutes.”

“Really?” Haldane said, clearly taken aback. “That’s--surprising to me. Sarah’s…” He smiled apologetically. “She’s got a lot of energy. I know we’ve spoken about that before. I thought, if anything, she might have-- _ been a bit snippy _ , to use your polite term, or  _ yelled _ , to put it more bluntly, but she hasn’t had a real crying fit in public for a year or two, unless she was physically exhausted.”

“So it hasn’t been an issue so far?” Eddie probed carefully. “I’m not trying to pry, but, you know, sometimes if things carry over from home…”

“No, nothing like that.” Haldane shook his head. “We’ve talked about Mother’s Day once or twice--I think last year she asked me what it was--but she didn’t seem concerned at all. Of course, this is the first time it’s come up at school. She had pink eye last year the week that her kindergarten class made their Mother’s Day craft.” He looked over at Sarah again and frowned. “Did she say anything? Once she calmed down?”

“Yes, I asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn’t want to make a card because, since she didn’t have a mom, Mother’s Day wasn’t for her. I suggested that she make something for someone else--I think I suggested an aunt or a grandmother again--and she just said that it wasn’t the same thing and it didn’t count. She was very insistent on that point.”

“See, that surprises me too,” Haldane said. He fidgeted in his seat and crossed his legs, and propped his chin in his hand. Eddie felt, suddenly, like he was being confided in. “Sarah’s very close with my sister; Diana takes her out for the day twice a month. If she had the option to make something for Diana, I wouldn’t think she would argue it. Although…” A small smile touched his face. “At this age, kids can be very--literal.”

“I know what you mean,” Eddie said reassuringly. “A mom is a mom and an aunt is an aunt, and sometimes it’s just the principle of the thing.”

“Exactly.” Haldane sat back with a sigh. He looked, suddenly, very tired, and Eddie hesitated for only a moment before offering his opinion.

“My guess would be that, for Sarah, a lot of it was about not fitting in. She didn’t mind not participating, but it was having it noticed, and then being pressured into participating, that upset her. Eventually I told her that she could take some free drawing time, and move to the back table so no one would notice if she was making a card or drawing something else, and she was fine with that.”

“That’s smart,” Haldane approved, with a genuinely warm smile, and if Eddie blushed easier he would be in serious trouble right now, because… well, he and Lena happened to have both a “Good Parent” list and a “Hot Parent” list, and Haldane had very quickly landed on both. “Thank you. I really appreciate how helpful you’ve been, this whole year really.”

“Oh, I don’t think--”

“No, you have,” Haldane persisted. “Not all teachers can or would take the time--or think to mention diverse families ahead of time instead of whenever it came up. And Sarah loves being in your class.”

Eddie made the same stupid face he did whenever he was complimented; it was less of a smile and more of a grimace, despite the fact that he was beaming on the inside. He looked down at his desk for a moment, and there was silence between them. Then Haldane turned around and called to Sarah.

“Sweetie, can you come here a minute?”

“Mm?” Sarah replied, focused on her book.

“Mr. Jones says you had free draw today. I want to see what you made.”

“Kay.” Sarah slipped off the couch and walked over. Her backpack was at her father’s feet, and she dug out two pieces of paper and handed them both over. “That’s me and you and Betsy,” she said, pointing to some scribbled figures on the first sheet. “And that’s the other pets I’m gonna get. I want a snake,” she informed Eddie matter-of-factly, “and I’m going to name her Yvette. And I want a narwhal, too, named Jim. A narwhal is a whale that lives in the ocean, but it has a horn like a unicorn. Except it just  _ looks _ like a horn, but really it’s a tusk like elephants have.”

Eddie bit the inside of his cheek.

“That sounds great. But I think it might be a little big for a pet…”

“And I’ve told you already, Sarah, we can’t get a cobra,” Haldane sighed. “She likes the hoods,” he told Eddie. “And she wants to learn to the play the flute or something like a snake charmer.”

“Third grade is when we pick instruments,” Sarah nodded.

“What’s this one, Sarah?” Haldane prodded, holding up the other sheet.

“I made a card for Aunt Diana,” she said. “That’s her and that’s me and we’re having smoothies.”

Haldane was frowning at the card, and Eddie looked and saw that it read “Happy Aunts Day” in big, shaky letters.

“Why Aunt’s Day, hun?” Haldane asked gently. “Why not Mother’s Day?”

“’Cuz,” she shrugged.

“I’m sure Aunt’s Day is its own holiday, but Mother’s Day is this weekend. We bought lilies, remember, for Aunt Diana and for Grandma.”

“Jack and Ryan can make her cards if they want,” Sarah huffed, crossing her arms. “She’s  _ their _ mom. But she’s my  _ aunt _ . I told you already,” she said as she flashed an accusing glance at Eddie.

“That’s right,” he said in a calm voice. “You did. It’s a very nice card, Sarah. And you spelled ‘aunt’ right without even asking. That’s very good.”

“Daddy, when are we going home?” she asked. Haldane said her name in an admonishing voice, and she looked back at Eddie. “Thank you, Mr. Jones.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I think we’ve taken up enough of Mr. Jones’s time,” Haldane said, glancing at the clock. “We can go right now if you have everything.”

“No wait, I want to finish my book,” she said quickly, and she dashed back to the couch as Haldane rolled his eyes.

Still, recognizing that the conference was over, Eddie stood. Haldane folded the two pieces of construction paper and put them in the backpack, then he stood, too, and shook Eddie’s hand, and they drifted towards the door.

“Thank you, again,” he said, but he seemed distracted. “I… stop me if I’m oversharing--”

“Don’t worry,” Eddie said, thinking back to that one time when, as a first year teacher, he had become trapped in an in-depth discussion of a four-time-mother’s disastrously ineffective alternative all natural birth control methods. “I highly doubt you’ll meet my threshold.”

A smile flickered on Haldane’s face but he still seemed miles away.

“Okay. Well… I’ve--never been married. There’s never been a co-parent for Sarah to miss. It was just, I’d always wanted kids, and so when I hit thirty-five and it didn’t seem likely to happen, I didn’t really think twice about looking into a surrogate. Well, that’s not  _ quite _ true,” he amended. “I thought about adoption. But I thought it might be difficult to justify a single gay dad to a mother or the agency.”

Eddie almost perked up, and hated himself for it.  _ Not the time or the place, Jones _ , he thought sternly, and he felt the back of his neck flush.

“I never once doubted that I wanted to raise a child. And I still don’t,” Haldane said hastily. “But I just hadn’t considered that I might have to justify it to Sarah, too.”

Eddie was silent for a minute, watching Sarah flip the pages of  _ Somebody and the Three Blairs _ , and thinking. He had been the eldest of ten children in a two-parent home. He had absolutely no idea what it was like to live in a two-person household, but he could imagine that it might, on occasion, be lonely for a kid, and frustrating for a parent. He thought about what it might be like to worry about your kid one day looking at you and saying  _ why did you choose this? Did you really think this was best for me? _

Then he looked at Andrew Haldane, and the worried line on his forehead, and decided that no kid--not even the cruelest preteen--could seriously say that to this man.

“Honestly, Mr. Haldane,” he blurted out, “I don’t think you have to justify anything, or anything to worry about. You know, teachers, we try not to judge parents--”

Haldane laughed at that, and Eddie smiled sheepishly.

“Really, we  _ do _ . Because we know it can be hard, if parents are working or if there’s trouble at home or if it just gets overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean we can’t tell the difference between a parent who cares and a parent who doesn’t, or between a child who is happy and one who’s not. Sarah is a great kid, and you’re doing a great job.”

Haldane’s shoulders slumped with genuine relief.

“Thank you,” he said in a quiet voice.

“No problem. Besides,” Eddie added with a half-grin. “It’s not like ‘single’ is a permanent status, is it?”

There was an awkward silence that wasn’t actually silent, just filled with the mind-numbing roar of waves crashing angrily against the shore or a waterfall dashing boats on the rocks,  _ because Eddie hadn’t actually said that, had he?  _ A startled laugh burst from Haldane’s mouth, and he was forced to admit that, yes, it had happened. But it had been a joke, right? he thought desperately. That had been clear--it had been a jocular, masculine kind of joke, he  _ had not _ hit on a parent in the middle of a conference, that hadn’t happened--

Haldane made eye contact with him and then looked at the ground, a smile tugging on his lips and his eyelashes brushing the crest of his cheek, and holy shit that had happened.

“Hopefully not,” he said, and he met Eddie’s eyes again and smiled. “It was good meeting with you, Mr. Jones. Is it--Edward?”

“Eddie,” he said in a dry voice.

“Right. Andy. Sarah, are you ready to go, hun?”

“Yeah,” Sarah said. She put the book back in its basket, and skipped out to the hallway. “Bye, Mr. Jones!”

-

A month later, on the last day of school, Eddie’s desk was piled with cards and baked goods and chocolate, and then Sarah Haldane proudly presented him with a card. On the front was a figure that could, conceivably, look like him--the upper part of its body was the same green as his favorite shirt, and it had a mop of curly hair--and the words BEST TEACHER.

“That’s you,” Sarah said helpfully. She opened it for him and pointed to another figure, with blonde hair and a heart twice as large as her head, with THANK YOU written above her. “And that’s me.”

“I can tell,” Eddie laughed. A small slip of paper had fallen out when Sarah opened the card; in a considerably neater hand someone had written I O U, along with a little drawing of a bottle of a wine. He was chuckling over it when something else written on the card caught his eye. “What’s that?”

“That’s my full name,” Sarah declared proudly. “Sarah Elizabeth Haldane. I usually don’t write my middle name cuz it’s too long. Oh, and that’s our phone number,” she added in a disinterested voice. “My daddy wrote that, but I don’t know why.”

“Neither do I,” Eddie lied, as he very carefully slipped the card into his bag.


	3. Family Errands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the prompt for this one was "you asked me to the store with you and your child(ren), and now my distant relative we met thinks im married with babies"

“What’s this?” Andy asked, picking a macintosh apple off the teetering pyramid. He held it up so Tyler could see and made the sign for ‘apple’, crooking his fist against his cheek. “Apple?”

Tyler gurgled and repeated the sign decisively.

“Should we get some apples?” A sentence that grammatically complex was way beyond his range, but he repeated the sign for apple hopefully and counted on a lucky guess or the toddler’s superior language acquisition to bridge the gap. Tyler bounced in the seat of the shopping cart and signed ‘yes’ several times in a row, and Andy grinned. The kid had been vacuuming down apples since before he had teeth. ‘Yes,’ Andy signed back, and he put a bagful of apples into the cart and moved down the line.

The next pile on the counter was oranges, and Andy froze. Oranges were on the shopping list, and also on his study list--but he couldn’t remember the sign. He was pretty sure it was one-handed…

He glanced at Tyler, full realizing that relying on a one-and-a-half year old to know the answer to the question was embarrassing, but Tyler was distracted by something across the room. Andy tapped his knee to get his attention and pointed at the oranges.

“What’s this, Tyler?” he asked. The boy smiled up at him serenely. ‘Apple’? Andy signed, hoping to be corrected, but Tyler only giggled and repeated ‘apple.’

“It’s this,” Eddie’s voice said, and Andy turned around to find Eddie standing behind him, a freshly-diapered Linda on his hip and the diaper bag slung over his shoulder. He held up his hand against his mouth, fingers facing inward, and squeezed his fist twice.

“Ornge!” Linda declared happily. They were her snack of choice; Eddie was making the same dumb ‘apples and oranges’ joke to everyone in the vicinity whenever he stopped to give the kids a snack. He pressed a congratulatory kiss to the top of her head.

“They’re beating me,” Andy sighed. “And I’ve been studying, I swear.”

“Aw, don’t feel bad, Ack-Ack,” Eddie chuckled. “All they’ve got so far is Daddy, milk, apple, orange, and bed, so it can’t take you  _ that _ long to catch up. And you’re doing better than most of their actual relatives; my dad can’t even get the alphabet down pat. ’Course it’s ironic, ’cuz his hearing’s not so great either, so I’m guessing his relationship with Ty is just going to involve lots and lots of shouting. Here, trade?”

Linda whined when Eddie held her up, but she got over her disappointment pretty quick and bounced her hand off Andy’s cheeks in what he assumed was an affectionate gesture. Tyler was already experiencing a bit of separation anxiety; he could tolerate Andy and the babysitter, but was prone to fits of weeping whenever his father was more than ten yards away. Linda was more adventurous.

Eddie leaned against the rail of the grocery cart and consulted the shopping list, which was a blend of his own and Andy’s--color-coded, so they could tell the difference. This was the sort of thing they did for fun lately, joint grocery shopping, because between their non-overlapping work schedules and the twins, baseball games and bars had fallen by the wayside. Andy didn’t mind. It kept him up to date on the household chores, at least, and when life got stressful he could think of few things better than playing with someone else’s adorable babies.

“Okay, I think we’re good on fruit,” Eddie said. “You’ve got blueberries on your list, but--”

“But I want frozen ones, right. On to vegetables, then?”

Suddenly, a delighted shriek split the muzak-and-air-conditioning quiet of the supermarket.

“ _ Andrew _ !”

Andy jumped. The movement startled Linda, who began to cry, and he hastily tried to soothe her as a short, extremely excitable woman dashed through the cheeses and skidded to a stop in front of him.

“Oh my god, it’s so good to see you--”

“Kaitlin,” he blinked after a moment. “Hi--”

“--and who is  _ this _ ?” she said, leaning down to bestow a toothy grin on Linda.

“This is Linda--”

“She’s so precious,” Kaitlin cooed, and the baby smiled, although her face was still mostly pressed against Andy’s sweater. Then Kaitlin’s eyes slid over to Eddie.

Andy had always been fond of Kaitlin--she was one of his second or third cousins, five or ten years younger, so they had never been close, but she was a bundle of sunshine that definitely livened up the occasional family picnic. Although he rarely had the energy to deal with her one-on-one, without advanced knowledge, or for more than five minutes at a time.

“So this must be your husband!”

Or when she came out with pronouncements like  _ that _ .

“And baby number two! Oh my gosh, Andrew, I can’t believe you’ve been hiding these guys away.” She wiggled her fingers at Tyler, who was tugging at Eddie’s shirt and ignoring her. Eddie rested a hand on his head and continued to look at Kaitlin with the wondrous grin of someone who had just stumbled upon an unexpected treasure. Kaitlin rested her hands on her hips and shook her head. “See, this is what happens when you never post on Facebook,” she scolded. “I never saw  _ one _ wedding photo (let alone an invite, but I’ll forgive you for that one, weddings are  _ so _ expensive aren’t they?), let alone baby photos, and here we are!”

“Actually,” Andy finally managed, “we’re not--”

“I always tell him,” Eddie said with a dramatic sigh. He stepped closer and rested a hand on Andy’s back. “Old soul or no, cutting out social media just leaves people out nowadays, it’s almost rude. Although, to be fair, a lot of folk got left out of our wedding, didn’t they, honeybunch? On account of my immediate family filling up half of Metheun.”

Kaitlin laughed, and Andy looked at Eddie and raised his eyebrows. Eddie smiled back serenely.

“Right,” Andy said, internally rolling his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries, no worries. I’m Kaitlin Shaw,” she introduced herself to Eddie. “Andrew and I are… what, third cousins? Fourth? Second twice removed? I don’t know, I can never keep track.”

“Me neither. And this is Eddie--”

“Jones-Haldane,” Eddie interrupted, shaking her hand and grinning fit to split his face. “And that’s Linda and Tyler. So do you live in the city, or…?”

“No, sadface. I’m just here visiting one of my old sorority sisters, but I live in Rhode Island actually. I promised her I would make my famous chocolate cheesecake for dinner tonight, but she doesn’t have any strawberries or Kahlua in her house, can you believe it? So I’m making a grocery run, and I’m here for tonight and tomorrow morning and then I’ve got to skedaddle.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

“I know. How’s your folks? And Frankie? Ugh these two are  _ too cute _ ! How old? Did you adopt or what? You know I’ve always sort of thought I’d make a great surrogate--”

They chattered for a few more minutes and then Kaitlin was gone as suddenly as she had arrived, leaving a vacuum of silence in her wake.

“My goodness,” Eddie said in a light voice.

“What was that, Mr. Jones-Haldane?” Andy demanded.

“It was a lot of fun, is what it was,” Eddie laughed. He pushed the cart away from the fruit section and swung towards vegetables. “Okay, I need squash, onions, and broccoli, and you need sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and asparagus, and we both need carrots and celery. Do you really not talk to your family  _ that _ much? Is it seriously possible that you could be married for two years, and have two kids, and some of your relatives wouldn’t know?”

“Probably not. I mean, you  _ know _ how many photos my dad posts on Facebook, and if I ever get married, Frankie’s going to be my best person, so--”

“Hey!”

“She’s my  _ sister _ , Eddie. Anyway, point is, Frankie would post about it and Kaitlin would have seen it. And my mother would probably have sent out an old-fashioned family update newsletter. Some of my aunts still do those. But she is a bit far out, in terms of blood relation--and you know how it is. Twenty years ago we had huge extended family parties all the time, but then some branches started getting married and having more and more kids and it became a hassle to plan for everyone, not to mention cooking for them all. That’s the first time I’ve seen Kaitlin in probably four or five years, so missing  _ some _ life updates wouldn’t be unusual…”

Eddie shook his head as he hefted a squash.

“Man, I don’t get you people. My  _ immediate _ family’s going on nineteen people now, and we still have a family barbecue every summer, cousins included.”

“I know, I’ve been to one of the famous Jones family barbecues. I lost you in the crowd for forty-five minutes.”

“And I found you just as cousin Raylan was fixing to pour half a gallon of moonshine down your throat,” Eddie grinned. “I remember.”

“I can’t believe you went along with Kaitlin, though,” Andy sighed. Linda started to fuss in his arms, and he dug around in the diaper bag until he found a teething ring. He had learned that those little plaintive nasal noises she made sometimes were indicative of boredom, not pain--but she was perfectly happy to rattle it, admire the bright colors, and (when all else failed) to wave it around until it clipped Andy in the temple. “Next time I see her I’m going to have to break the bad news, you know. That’s going to be so awkward.”

“Eh, you’ve got four or five years to work out how,” Eddie shrugged. “How much asparagus do you actually want?”

“A little bit more--yeah, that’s good.”

Eddie tied off the bag and dropped it in the cart, and then leaned down, resting his elbows on the rail. Tyler chirped happily and made the sign for Daddy, and Eddie kissed his forehead absently as he reached around to type on his phone. They walked slowly for a minute as Eddie texted and Andy one-handedly deposited bags of potatoes and carrots into the cart. At first there was a smile on Eddie’s face, and then an expression of puzzlement. His feet dragged to a stop, and he seemed unaware of Tyler’s demands on his attention. Andy turned around, meaning to ask what was next on their list--meat, or did they want to swing by the sale aisle?--and raised an eyebrow.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Eddie mumbled, still looking confused. “I was just texting Frankie…” He shook his head decisively and stood up straight. “Your sister is weird,” he concluded.

“Let me see.”

Andy held out his hand, and Eddie actually hesitated before handing over his phone. That was unusual.

Hey guess what?   
Your brother and I are married. 

OMG SERIOUSLY   
Wait like married-married or like engaged-married   
Either way OMG but also I might have to kill you   
I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT. I can’t really talk right now but CALL ME IN 30 MINUTES

Um.   
Frankie. Chill, please? I was joking

Oh.   
Oh my god. Sorry.   
Oh my god I’m an idiot, of course you were joking. SORRY.

Yeah, we ran into one of your cousins at Stop&Shop and Andy was holding Linda so she thought we were together…   
“I knew it”?

Ugggggh I’m sorry.   
This is so awkward. But like you know half our/your family thinks the two of you are secretly dating, right? Lol

???

Oh please, that CAN’T be a surprise. You guys are like inseparable.   
And I mean Andy seemed kind of cool towards Sarah when the two of you were together?   
Then when the twins were born you guys were really close again so I thought maybe there’d been a ~confession or something.   
Anyway. SORRY.

“Well.” Andy cleared his throat and handed the phone back.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t really like Sarah,” he admitted, because that seemed the easiest point to address. “I mean I like her fine now--she’s the mother of your kids, I’m not going to be rude to her--but I didn’t think the two of you were good for each other.”

“And obviously you’ve been vindicated.”

“Right. So--maybe I was a little standoffish. But it wasn’t because I was secretly in love with you.”

“Of course.” There was another stilted pause. “I need ground beef, do you need beef?”

“Yes,” Andy said in a relieved voice. “Ground beef and chicken breasts.”

Eddie bent over the refrigerated shelves for a moment.

“How much free time does your family think I have?” he blurted suddenly in a too-cheerful voice.

“What? Ow.” Andy winced as Linda’s teething ring collided with his head.

“I mean I have two toddlers, how on earth would I have time to secretly date anyone?” he laughed.

“Right. Sweetie, maybe we’ve had enough of this,” he said in an undertone as he took the teething ring away from Linda’s grasp and tucked it into the bag in the shopping cart.

“What kind of dates would I even have time for? ‘Hey, you want to come over and change diapers?’ Real romantic.”

“Well, that is sort of what we’re doing now,” Andy pointed out unthinkingly.

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.”

They moved on from meat to the snacks and cereal aisle. Eddie’s phone had buzzed with another text, which he ignored. He consulted the grocery list with a frown toying his lips.

“It’s so frigging annoying,” he burst out suddenly, “how no one believes that two queer guys can be friends. I get this all the time, people trying to set me up with the one gay guy they know--”

“Mm.”

“And yeah maybe when we were in college and I had a huge crush on you, but come on, a decade later…”

Andy wasn’t listening. Linda had decided that his hand was her new plaything and had promptly started drooling all over his fingers, and he was trying to extricate them without prompting a tantrum, and thinking about how it was a good thing all the rest of the food he would touch was pre-packaged. He said “right” in an absent voice just to keep the conversation going. Then--“What?”

“What?”

Andy stopped in the middle of the cereal aisle, right in front of the bran flakes.

“You… had a crush on me?”

“Who didn’t?” Eddie shrugged. Tyler had started to whine and his attention was diverted.

“I--I didn’t know.”

“So?” Just then, Tyler started crying in earnest. Eddie sighed and picked him out of the cart. “What does it matter?”

“It doesn’t, I guess,” Andy frowned. “Except… I had a huge crush on  _ you _ in college.”

Eddie stared at him. And then stared at Tyler, who was saying “da, da, da” and tapping his hand against his forehead over and over, and reaching for Andy with his other hand.

“Oh my god,” Eddie said. “Are we secretly dating?”


End file.
